Chicago Columbia Giants

The Columbia Giants were the Page Fence Giants of Adrian, Michigan, bought and moved to Chicago in 1899. They played four seasons at a recorded 9-4 — a figure that reflects how little of independent Black baseball reached the standings tables this archive is built from, rather than how much they played.

The club competed with the Chicago Unions for the city and lost: the two merged in 1901 into the Union Giants, which is the line that eventually leads to Rube Foster's American Giants. Two Hall of Famers played here, Frank Grant and Sol White.

Grant Johnson, the shortstop, managed. Home was Columbia Park and later South Side Park. The Page Fence club it came from had been sponsored by a wire fence manufacturer and traveled by private railcar, which was unusual enough at the time to be part of the attraction.